Photos: Telecom satellites blast off from the jungle

Ground crews towed a towering Ariane 5 rocket to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday for final flight preparations before Thursday’s launch with spacecraft for two of the world’s top commercial satellite operators.

Arianespace has opened the year with two contracts to deliver commercial television and broadband satellites to orbit aboard Ariane 5 rockets launched from French Guiana in 2018 and 2019.

Arianespace chief executive Stephane Israel announced an anomaly occurred during Thursday’s flight of an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, shortly after the launcher’s second stage engine ignited.